Literary notes about glean (AI summary)
"Glean" in literature operates on both literal and metaphorical levels. In its literal sense, the term evokes the image of harvesting remnants from fields—a practice laden with social and religious significance, as when characters in biblical narratives or pastoral accounts collect the leftover grain for the poor [1, 2, 3]. At the same time, many authors use "glean" metaphorically to describe the process of extracting meaning or knowledge from various sources—be it subtle cues in human behavior, fragments of historical record, or the nuances of personal experience [4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. This dual usage enriches the term, enabling it to convey both a tangible act of gathering and a more abstract quest for insight, ultimately imbuing the narrative with layers of practical and symbolic resonance [9, 10, 11, 12].
- So she kept close to the maids of Booz: and continued to glean with them, till all the barley and the wheat were laid up in the barns.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And Booz said to Ruth: Hear me, daughter, do not go to glean in any other field, and do not depart from this place: but keep with my maids, 2:9.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.
— from The Doré Bible Gallery, Complete - I met a seer, Passing the hues and objects of the world, The fields of art and learning, pleasure, sense, To glean eidolons.
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman - when shall I glean aright From the living spectacle of my bitter lot, To mold my handywork and mine eyes' Delight?
— from The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire - If I had only had the brains to know it, there lay before me as fine a field as any craftsman in the art of fiction ever had a chance to glean in.
— from RecollectionsWith Photogravure Portrait of the Author and a number ofOriginal Letters, of which one by George Meredith andanother by Robert Louis Stevenson are reproduced infacsimile by David Christie Murray - The truth I have managed to glean only bit by bit, for he has never told me himself.
— from The Lady in the Car by William Le Queux - We all looked at each other, trying to glean something each from the other.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - Piecemeal they win this acre first, then that, Glean on, and gather up the whole estate.
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope - The portraits may be common, but living in the country, and at distance from town, I have no friend from whom I can glean the required information.
— from Notes and Queries, Vol. III, Number 83, May 31, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various - This was followed by a lower mumble of voices from which I could glean nothing intelligible.
— from The Man Who Couldn't Sleep by Arthur Stringer - A short time ago I had occasion to investigate such a case and was able to glean corroboration from this apparent contradiction.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
